AIRPORT NOT SUITABLE FOR WETLANDS

If reason prevails, a bad idea has been put to rest. Nearing completion of a landmark study of wetlands ordered by President George Bush, the Environmental Protection Agency has concluded that the planned Weston Airport in Southwest Broward County should not be built.

The EPA has declared the site, near the intersection of U.S. 27 and State Road 84, vital to South Florida's water supply and an important wildlife habitat for wading birds. Because it stores millions of gallons of storm water, it also helps prevent flooding in nearby developed areas.

Unfortunately, some county leaders, aviation officials and regional planners still are looking for ways around the agency's stand. They believe their own impact survey will contain information that would cause the EPA to change its decision. MaryAnn Gerber, director of the federal study, sees little likelihood of a reversal.

There is no question that Broward's airports and air space are overcrowded and that additional facilities are needed.

There also is no question, particularly in the middle of one of the worst droughts in South Florida history, that water is more important to the area's future than the private and corporate aircraft that would use the proposed Weston runways.

The wetlands in question are in important recharge area for the Biscayne Aquifer, the principal source of the region's drinking water

Environmental concerns aren't the only problems clouding the issue. Residents in the fast-growing area are justifiably worried about having a $75 million airport as a neighbor.

The county, already spending many millions of dollars buying up homes around Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, doesn't need another costly residential headache.

Florida Power & Light has agreed to modify the height of the 500,000-volt power lines that loop around about two-thirds of the site.

Fiddling with high-voltage wires, trying to make runways suitable for instrument landings, is not an ideal way to go about legitimizing an airport proposal.

The EPA will present its findings to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in February and hold a public hearing in Broward in March or April.

If another government entity, such as the Corps, decided to approve permits to build the airport, the EPA could invoke its rarely-used veto power. The EPA has the legal guns to protect the county's dwindling wetlands and it should stick by them.